DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Stream n.
 1. A current of water or other fluid; a liquid flowing continuously in a line or course, either on the earth, as a river, brook, etc., or from a vessel, reservoir, or fountain; specifically, any course of running water; as, many streams are blended in the Mississippi; gas and steam came from the earth in streams; a stream of molten lead from a furnace; a stream of lava from a volcano.
 2. A beam or ray of light. “Sun streams.”
 3. Anything issuing or moving with continued succession of parts; as, a stream of words; a stream of sand. “The stream of beneficence.” --Atterbury. “The stream of emigration.” --Macaulay.
 4. A continued current or course; as, a stream of weather. “The very stream of his life.”
 5. Current; drift; tendency; series of tending or moving causes; as, the stream of opinions or manners.
 Gulf stream. See under Gulf.
 Stream anchor, Stream cable. Naut. See under Anchor, and Cable.
 Stream ice, blocks of ice floating in a mass together in some definite direction.
 Stream tin, particles or masses of tin ore found in alluvial ground; -- so called because a stream of water is the principal agent used in separating the ore from the sand and gravel.
 Stream works Cornish Mining, a place where an alluvial deposit of tin ore is worked. --Ure.
 To float with the stream, figuratively, to drift with the current of opinion, custom, etc., so as not to oppose or check it.
 Syn: -- Current; flow; rush; tide; course.
 Usage: Stream, Current. These words are often properly interchangeable; but stream is the broader word, denoting a prevailing onward course. The stream of the Mississippi rolls steadily on to the Gulf of Mexico, but there are reflex currents in it which run for a while in a contrary direction.

 Tin n.
 1. Chem. An elementary substance found as an oxide in the mineral cassiterite, and reduced as a soft silvery-white crystalline metal, with a tinge of yellowish-blue, and a high luster.  It is malleable at ordinary temperatures, but brittle when heated. It is softer than gold and can be beaten out into very thin strips called tinfoil. It is ductile at 2120, when it can be drawn out into wire which is not very tenacious; it melts at 4420, and at a higher temperature burns with a brilliant white light. Air and moisture act on tin very slightly. The peculiar properties of tin, especially its malleability, its brilliancy and the slowness with which it rusts make it very serviceable.  With other metals it forms valuable alloys, as bronze, gun metal, bell metal, pewter and solder.  It is not easily oxidized in the air, and is used chiefly to coat iron to protect it from rusting, in the form of tin foil with mercury to form the reflective surface of mirrors, and in solder, bronze, speculum metal, and other alloys. Its compounds are designated as stannous, or stannic. Symbol Sn (Stannum). Atomic weight 117.4.
 2. Thin plates of iron covered with tin; tin plate.
 3. Money. [Cant]
 Block tin Metal., commercial tin, cast into blocks, and partially refined, but containing small quantities of various impurities, as copper, lead, iron, arsenic, etc.; solid tin as distinguished from tin plate; -- called also bar tin.
 Butter of tin. Old Chem. See Fuming liquor of Libavius, under Fuming.
 Grain tin. Metal. See under Grain.
 Salt of tin Dyeing, stannous chloride, especially so called when used as a mordant.
 Stream tin. See under Stream.
 Tin cry Chem., the peculiar creaking noise made when a bar of tin is bent. It is produced by the grating of the crystal granules on each other.
 Tin foil, tin reduced to a thin leaf.
 Tin frame Mining, a kind of buddle used in washing tin ore.
 Tin liquor, Tin mordant Dyeing, stannous chloride, used as a mordant in dyeing and calico printing.
 Tin penny, a customary duty in England, formerly paid to tithingmen for liberty to dig in tin mines. [Obs.] --Bailey.
 Tin plate, thin sheet iron coated with tin.
 Tin pyrites. See Stannite.

 Cas·sit·er·ite n.  Min. Native tin dioxide; tin stone; a mineral occurring in tetragonal crystals of reddish brown color, and brilliant adamantine luster; also massive, sometimes in compact forms with concentric fibrous structure resembling wood (wood tin), also in rolled fragments or pebbly (Stream tin). It is the chief source of metallic tin. See Black tin, under Black.
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